A Whisper to the North

Chapter III ✠ A Final Glass

Una stood there, with the knife plunged into her breast. She couldn't believe that she had let her guard down. Una looked deeply into his eyes as the pain began to grow. He had not hit her heart, luckily, but she knew this would impede her from swinging her sword hard. She can still turn with her left, but it will difficult to control.

He has never tried to kill anyone because he stabbed her in the right breast, barely deep enough to penetrate her lung. There wasn't even a drop of blood to be seen.

"Damn you!" Una groaned as she grabbed his hand and tried to pull the knife out.

"You're a fool!" The man laughed as Una tried to pull the knife out of her body.

It hurt, but namely, because she had never been stabbed before in the chest. It was always her forearms or legs that bared the brunt of blade blows. She knew that this man was weaker than her. Even with her right arm weakened now, she could feel his body tremble under her strength.

After struggling, at last, she was able to pry the knife out of her. An evil grin traced over his face. He must have thought Una was going to die by his blade. He underestimated his own strength.

"Oh please, you got to do better than that if you want to kill me," Una said as she pulled his hand up and grabbed the knife with a better grip.

For a moment, the man looked away, and Una could get a tighter hold on the knife, but not on the tang, the blade itself. Now they both began to struggle with the knife. Una had the blade edge in her hands, but she would not let go. The boy couldn't use his other arm to help him pull away. Una's grasp trapped him.

They obviously were evenly matched at this point, and no impasse was coming. This made Una quite impatient. She wanted the struggle to end. She liked quick defeats or triumphs. There was no need to prolong the torment.

"Who said I was here to kill you?" The man laughed.

Una had enough. At the last second, she decided that she would allow herself to win this one. She quickly balled her right hand up and with all her lasting strength. She propelled it forward and smashed her fist square into the jaw of the man. He gasped at first and dropped the knife, Una gasped in pain from her arm and her hand being cut to shreds.

Then Una saw him try to compose himself, but he was failing. His eyes roll back, and she watches him fall back flat on his back. She had knocked him out.

"Hmm...I didn't think that would work but thank the Gods!" Una shrugged in disbelief.

Even more in disbelief was that she held a blade in her hand that had the same-named engraved in the fuller of her sword, in the knife. If she could get the name of the man who the knife foraged, she should be able to find the man who sold the blades to her father's killer. If the man were a Dane, indeed, he would have a record of each man he sold his weapons to.

Una began to swell with joy, even though her body hurt with pain, but it was a dull pain. She had felt much worse in her life. Abandonment was the worst pain she had ever felt. No cut would ever penetrate her so painfully as being left behind in this world, having everyone ripped from you.

"Why did you trouble yourself so, to get here?" Una asked, kneeling next to the man as she slipped the knife in her dress pocket.

She pulled his cloak away to reveal his thin frame, dressed in a loose white tunic and silk trousers. How was it that he too was wearing the garb of noblemen? His clothing was pristine, all but a few drops of his own blood and Una's blood.

Wherever he was from, it must be a great town if he was a slave and was dressed in this fashion. Una thought about how odd these slaves are here in this state if that is who they were. Why were they forced to come to kill the Queen when they knew it was a battle they couldn't win?